Vietnamese Caramelized Salmon (Cá Hồi Kho)

This Vietnamese-style Caramelized Salmon (cá hồi kho) features salmon prepared in a classic way. The fish is simmered with fish sauce and caramel sauce which gives it a delicious savory taste and beautiful color. Served with rice, this dish makes a very satisfying meal.

One of the most classic Vietnamese dishes is caramelized fish (“cá kho” in Vietnamese – “cá” means fish and “kho” means braising). It may not be a dish that you easily find at your local Vietnamese restaurants, but it showcases traditional Vietnamese cooking techniques and core flavors of Vietnamese cuisine.

There is just something very homey about this dish, probably because it is in the meal rotation of every family in Vietnam. “Cá kho” is an example of the savory dish we serve with rice in a typical Vietnamese meal. Another example is this traditional caramelized pork belly and eggs. I’m sure a lot of Vietnamese people living abroad (including me) feel like home whenever they make caramelized fish.

Ingredients

In terms of fish for caramelized fish, we have a variety of choices in Vietnam and each type of fish results in different texture and taste. Not the most traditional choice, but I have found salmon to be excellent for this dish. The Vietnamese translation for caramelized salmon is “cá hồi kho“. I also have a classic cá kho recipe for other types of fish.

The fish sauce and caramel sauce give the salmon a deep savory flavor and rich color. We also add aromatics and other ingredients to simmer with the fish to eliminate any strong fishiness and make the dish even more sophisticated. Some of the aromatics and items we often use are ginger, galangal, bird’s-eye chili, and tomatoes.

How to Cook Vietnamese Caramelized Salmon

Traditionally, fish steaks are used in caramelized fish and I love to use salmon steaks for this recipe. However, if you cannot find them, it should be okay to use salmon fillets. Just don’t slice them too thin/small.

The three main cooking steps in this recipe are:

• preparing the caramel sauce,
• searing the salmon, and then
• simmering all ingredients together.

My recipe for cá hồi kho is Northern style. You can make it more like Southern style by adding sugar to the braising liquid to your liking. I also add bird’s-eye chili which gives the dish a nice kick, but you can leave it out if you don’t like spicy food.

Also, traditionally we don’t leave a lot of liquid left as sauce for caramelized fish, but feel free to leave as much sauce as you prefer. It is best to serve this caramelized salmon over rice, so delicious and flavorful.

⭐️ I’d love to hear what you think about the dish, so please feel free to leave a comment and a rating if you have tried it. New recipes are added every week so let’s connect on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates. You can find my collection of Vietnamese recipes here.

Vietnamese Caramelized Salmon (Cá Hồi Kho)

This Vietnamese-style Caramelized Salmon features salmon prepared in a classic way. The fish is simmered with fish sauce and caramel sauce which gives it a delicious savory taste and beautiful color. Served with rice, this dish makes a very satisfying meal.

Author: Sophie Pham

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 45 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr

Servings: 3 people

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

US Customary – Grams

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 – 1.75 lb salmon steaks (about 1.5 – 2 inch thick)
• 1 large shallot
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of galangal (or ginger if galangal is not available)
• 2 tomatoes (one is fine if large)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 – 2 birds-eye chili
• cooking oil
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 2/3 tablespoons fish sauce
• plenty of black pepper

For the Caramel Sauce

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons water (divided)

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Instructions

 

• Sprinkle salt on both sides of the salmon steaks and set a side. (Note: 1/2 teaspoon of salt is the total amount to use for all the salmon steaks)
• Thinly slice shallot, galangal (or ginger) and tomatoes. Smash the garlic. Remove seeds from the bird's-eye chili. Set aside.
  
• In a small saucepan, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, the sugar will fully dissolve. Lower the heat to medium, continue to simmer. You will see that a lot of bubbles on the surface. The mixture will then turn from clear to yellow, and get darker as you simmer it. When it has a honey color, reduce the heat slightly. Keep watching closely, until it has a dark caramel color, turn off the heat and carefully add 1 tablespoon of water. Swirl the saucepan to combine (add 1/2 – 1 more tablespoon of water if the caramel sauce is too thick) and remove it from the stove. Set aside.
  
• Place a pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add cooking oil and once the oil is hot, sear salmon steaks for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer them to a plate.
  
• Place a pot that can fit all the salmon in a single layer on medium heat. Add oil and sauté shallots for a few seconds. Add garlic and galangal (or ginger) and sauté for a few more seconds until fragrant. Arrange them to cover the bottom of the pot and place tomato slices on top. Place salmon steaks on top of the tomatoes.
  
• Add 1 1/2 cups of water or enough to cover the fish, also add fish sauce, caramel sauce and bird's-eye chili and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer (low – medium low heat). Sprinkle plenty of black pepper and simmer 10-15 minutes then gently flip the fish. You can taste the braising liquid and adjust to taste, but remember it will get saltier as we continue cooking and reduce the liquid further.
  
• Continue to simmer for 20-30 minutes. Occasionally spoon the braising liquid over the salmon. If the liquid reduces too rapidly, you can add a little more water. In the last 5-10 minutes of cooking, watch closely because it may burn. The liquid will reduce, thicken like a sauce. Turn off the heat when there is just enough sauce to coat the bottom of the pot (or sooner if you prefer more sauce).
  
• Transfer salmon to a shallow serving bowl and sprinkle some more black pepper. Serve with rice.

Notes

• When making the caramel sauce, once the mixture turns yellow, you should watch very closely. Don’t go anywhere because from that point, it can burn really fast.
• My recipe for caramelized salmon is Northern style. You can make it more like Southern style by adding sugar to the braising liquid to your liking. I suggest start with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, taste and adjust to your liking.
• The bird’s-eye chili which gives the dish a nice kick, but you can leave it out if you don’t like spicy food.

Nutrition

Calories: 761kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 99g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 270mg | Sodium: 1402mg | Potassium: 2690mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 880IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 4mg

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Keyword: caramelized salmon

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